23 April 2013

After more than an hour of late night testimony, the Nevada Senate took its first step toward legalizing marriage equality with a "near party-line vote to repeal" the state's "one man, one-man" definition of marriage, reports KLAS.

The Nevada Senate voted 12-9 in favor of Senate Joint Resolution 13, which begins the process to repeal the same-sex marriage ban from the state constitution. Only one Republican voted with Democrats. If passed by lawmakers this year and in 2015, the measure would go to voters in 2016 for ratification.

The vote included the emotional floor speech of one state senator who publicly announced for the first time that he is gay. Sen. Kelvin Atkinson becomes one of only a handful of Black openly gay or lesbian state legislators. Listen AFTER THE JUMP ...

In a particularly emotional moment, Sen. Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas, publicly declared for the first time that he is gay. "I’m black. I'm gay," Atkinson said in a trembling voice after describing his father's interracial re-marriage that would have been banned earlier in American history. "I know this is the first time many of you have heard me say that I am a black, gay male."

Atkinson went on to rebut the argument that gay marriage threatens any other definition of marriage. "If this hurts your marriage, then your marriage was in trouble in the first place," he said.

The North Las Vegas Democrat becomes the state senate's second out Black lawmaker. Patricia Spearman—a Black openly lesbian minister—defeated a powerful two-term incumbent senator in the 2012 Democratic primary.

Atkinson becomes the nation's sixth serving Black LGBT state legislator, joining Georgia's Simone Bell and Keisha Waites, as well as Mary Washington of Maryland and North Carolina's Marcus Brandon. Georgia state Rep. Rashad Taylor lost his re-election bid in August 2012. Taylor became Georgia's first openly gay male legislator when he came out in 2011.

13 June 2012

In what has been described as an "impressive show of force" for the progressive wing of the Nevada Democratic Party, a Black openly lesbian minister defeated a powerful two-term incumbent senator in the Democratic primary. The Rev. Pat Spearman becomes the first openly lesbian elected to the Nevada legislature, reports the Nevada Stonewall Democrats.

Spearman will not face a Republican in November and her election is almost a certainty, reports the Las Vegas Review Journal.

Backed by liberal-leaning groups, Spearman, who is black, gay and an evangelist minister, had attacked Sen. John Lee for being too moderate and not doing enough to help constituents. She picked up 63 percent of the vote, compared with 37 percent for Lee, a 15-year legislator.

"This was a victory for the people," said Spearman, who is expected to win the Democrat-dominated district in North Las Vegas in November. "I am so humbled by the people's response and the confidence they placed in me. I commend my opponent for a spirited campaign and wish him the best in his future." [...]

Lee’s re-election bid was a key test for progressives, who after five years of state budget cuts and concessions on sacred cows like public employee bargaining, had felt Democrats in Carson City had drifted too far to the right. To do it, they had to take on their party’s establishment — Sen. Harry Reid had endorsed Lee.

Lee’s re-election provided the almost perfect test case for the liberal groups, led by Erin Neff of ProgressNow Nevada Action, environmentalists and lesbian and gay activists. His votes and bills in Carson City had drawn their ire. This was the first time in memory that Nevada progressives have taken on an incumbent lawmaker.

Spearman will also become only the second Black women elected to the Nevada senate. The current Senate Majority Leader, Steven Horsford, is also Black and very progressive on LGBT issues.

The Nevada Democrat would become the nation's fourth Black openly lesbian state legislator, following Georgia's Simone Bell and Keisha Waites, as well as Mary Washington of Maryland. There are two Black gay men serving in state legislatures—North Carolina's Marcus Brandon and Georgia's Rashad Taylor.